Man Charged With Kidnapping, Indecent Assault Of 12-year-old Police

An Easton man jailed for interfering with the custody of a 12-year-old boy was charged yesterday with kidnapping, attempted statutory rape, indecent assault, indecent exposure and corrupting a minor.

John Myer, 56, of 644 Northampton St., was arraigned at Northampton County Prison before District Justice Walter Auch. Auch increased his bail from $5,000 to $25,000. He will have a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Forks Township Police Capt. Louis Coxe said Myer arranged to meet the child, a neighbor, in the parking lot of Paxinosa Elementary School on Wednesday morning "to go for a ride in the mountains" in a van he had purchased several days before.

Other pupils on the bus which the boy had ridden to school told a teacher of the incident and a police search began.

Coxe said Myer drove the boy into the Poconos, and tried to molest him in the van, which had been converted into a motor home. Myer dropped the child off near his home about 4 p.m. Wednesday, Coxe said.

Easton police arrested Myer a short time later, and Coxe filed the initial charge against him before Auch. The additional charges followed a two-day investigation.